RALEIGH, N.C.—It was back in the summer of 2005, with the wreckage of the lockout that had wiped out the previous regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs still burning, when a group of players and executives met to rebuild the game.

It was the advent of the competition committee, and the 10 members argued and debated at the NHL offices in Toronto over a host of hot-button issues, many of which became staples of the “new” NHL, including the shootout, removing the red line for two-line passes, a penalty for shooting the puck over the glass and a trapezoid behind the net to restrict the ability of goaltenders to play the puck.

Then it came to overtime. Four-on-four seemed to have the group’s approval, but more contentious was a proposal for a seven-minute extra frame in which, after four minutes, the two teams would be reduced to three-on-three play for the remaining three minutes.

The players were represented by Brendan Shanahan, Rob Blake, Jarome Iginla, Trevor Linden and Mike Gartner, and management by Ed Snider, Don Waddell, David Poile, Bob Gainey and Kevin Lowe. To be included as part of the new package of rule changes, the measure needed seven votes; at 6-3 in favour, it fell to Blake to cast the decisive vote.

“I thought, this one’s going to get passed,” recalled Shanahan on Thursday. “I was waiting for (Blake) to say yes. He said no. I always respected him for that, going against the flow.”

If not for Blake, OT would have been a very different animal. Now retired as a player, he may yet have more of an impact on the game after being officially hired by the NHL to join its hockey operations department on Thursday.

He’s actually been working unofficially for the league for months, and it was he and Shanahan, hired as the NHL’s vice-president of hockey and business development 14 months ago, who together dreamed up the all-star draft that has attracted all the attention for this year’s game.

“(Blake) and I were in on it from the start and we tried to create something that we would have liked to participate in,” said Shanahan.

Friday night’s draft, in fact, could be the most interesting part of the weekend, if only because somebody will be the last pick by either Nicklas Lidstrom or Eric Staal.

“The players love this stuff. They love to tease and be teased,” said Shanahan.

“Sure, it’ll sting a little for that guy. But there’s no reason he can’t go out on Sunday and win the car (for MVP).”

With Shanahan, Blake, Colin Campbell, Mike Murphy, Kris King and Kay Whitmore all now playing significant roles in the NHL front office, a league once run exclusively by lawyers like John Ziegler, Brian O’Neill and Gil Stein is no longer vulnerable to charges it’s controlled by people who never played the game.

“I think it’s recognition of the valuable experience of having been a player,” said Shanahan.

Not so long ago, both Shanahan and Blake were respected voices on the players’ side. Now both are with the league — while the union has hired former baseball labour leader Donald Fehr and, this week, added a new layer of executives, including lawyer Richard Rodier. Rodier, you’ll recall, served as Jim Balsillie’s spokesman, and earned the enmity of Gary Bettman and his lieutenants for his combative style during Balsillie’s pursuit of various NHL clubs.

Both sides are clearly bulking up. It’s an intriguing dynamic, particularly with the next set of collective bargaining talks a year to 18 months away.

For now, Shanahan and Blake, who have 15 all-star game appearances between them, are just hoping their concept clicks.

“I really feel we’re trying to cater to the people who love it, not the cynics who don’t,” said Shanahan.

It’s worth a shot. Chances are if anyone can find a new formula that works, it’ll be a couple of guys who know the event from the inside.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.